Yo Gabba Gabba!

Yo Gabba Gabba is a show on Nickelodeon. It is a little bit psychedelic, at least the characters are! I had never heard of it until one of my teacher friends was supposed to dress up as one of the characters for Halloween. I think the premise is that music and dancing helps build the confidence and expressiveness of the characters and the viewers. I don't remember the trippiness of children's shows from when I was little. Did I block it all out? Or was puppetry enough for our imagination?

As crazy as it is, I love how it gets the children to sing and dance. It helps me remember that the way I learned is not how all children learn. I need to keep that in mind-even when teaching the adults. I don't think I will wear crazy costumes and dance, but the thought will be there to modify as needed!

What's Your Secret?

I think I've mentioned this community art project before. It's fairly well known and I've seen reporting on it in mainstream media. I occasionally peek in on the blog to see what kinds of things people have to share and the thoughts that are trapped in their minds. Some are quite frightening though others are not that unfamiliar. Tying it all back to education :) a teacher could do a project like this with their students where they write post cards from a character in a novel, a person in history, a caricature of an idea and share that character's secret in an obscure but artistic way.

My favorite post card up there right now is the one about how self-help books haven't helped, but Tupac is. I had to laugh a little, but I identify with that one a bit more. I don't agree with somebody seeing a post card on the site and taking it as a sign (it's okay to leave your partner and take off) or fate. I really do like to look at it like I'm in a gallery of art work. It is all about expression and I suppose artwork can be about interpretation. But I prefer to put the value of a piece in the intention of the author rather than the perspective of the reader.

I'm an English major so that argument bears a little more weight with me than it might with others. I'll try to be better about updating my blog!